Application of the neurotoxic substance, Kainate, to the immature hippocampus has the potential to reveal normal and abnormal processes in postnatally developing mossy fibers. However, certain problems arise in designing experiments to examine development in this way. They include (1) mechanical limitations; (2) confounding of anesthesia across age groups; (3) extensive spread of kainate delivered by pressure-injection; and (4) possible resistance of the neonatal hippocampus to destruction by kainate. Proposed solutions to each problem generate parameters which require separate study. It is argued that parameters should first be characterized in adult animals for future use in developmental paradigms. This approach provides a methodology which increases the power of subsequent experimentation. The parameters themselves may contribute alternatives to current methods in neurobiology, as well as contribute data on kainate mechanisms in the hippocampus.